What is the most interesting team sport?

ORAL

Abstract

What is the most interesting team sport? We answer this question via an extensive statistical survey of game scores, consisting of more than 1/4 million games in over a century. We propose the likelihood of upsets as a measure of competitiveness. We demonstrate the utility of this measure via a comparative analysis of several popular team sports including soccer, baseball, hockey, basketball, and football. We also develop a mathematical model, in which the stronger team is favored to win a game. This model allows to us conveniently estimate the likelihood of upsets from the more easily-accessible standings data.

Authors

  • Federico Vazquez

    Boston University

  • Eli Ben-Naim

    Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Sidney Redner

    Boston University